Video series: Community Voices

Women are disproportionately affected by HIV compared to men. In 2022,  women and girls accounted for 63% of all new HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa. Lucy Maroncha, a health writer from Kenya, shares experiences of women accessing HIV services and offers advice to healthcare practitioners on how they can improve their services to better support women and girls. 

The prevalence of HIV infections among people in prisons and other closed settings increased from 3.8% to 4.3% (between 2017 and 2021) meaning that people held in prisons are six times more likely to be living with HIV than other adults.  

In this video, Lonnie, a human rights activist, shares her experience working within prison facilities and highlights the challenges faced by prisoners in accessing HIV services. 

African Sex Workers Alliance activist Grace Nyarath understands the health needs of sex workers and the challenges they face. In this video, find out what advice Grace has for healthcare workers on how to make HIV services more friendly and effective.

Joyce Ouma, Advocacy and Campaigns Officer for Y+ Global and Kudakwashe Mapuranga, Peer Educator for OPHID speak about their experiences and how they think HIV services could be improved for young people.

Transgender people are at a disproportionately high risk of HIV to other population groups and yet often HIV services push them away rather than welcome them in. This needs to change. 

Activists Melody Seherrie from Gender Dynamix and Sazi Jali from Trans Hope provide insights on how to improve HIV services for transgender people and ensure they have better support.

People who inject drugs are 35 times more likely to have HIV than people who don’t. That’s why making HIV services accessible for them is a vital part of reducing new infections. 

Tendai Daka, the Programmes Manager at Mubatirapamwe Trust, speaks about his experience working with people who use drugs and gives his advice on what can be done to improve HIV services for them.

People with disabilities are often excluded from HIV education, prevention and support services because of assumptions that they are not sexually active. But like anyone else people with disabilities need information and advice on HIV and access to sexual health services.  

Agness Chindimba, a disability activist from Deaf Women Included, speaks about her experiences and how HIV services could be improved for people with disabilities. 

Gay men and other men who have sex with men often experience unfriendly HIV services. We spoke to activists Brian Sibeko-Ngidi, Phumlani Kango and Siripong Srichau (aka Arm) to hear their stories and advice on how you can make HIV services more inclusive.